Zippy's 98

Starting up another build thread on my car

My 1998 Mustang GT DECH in Bright Atlantic Blue

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Current Mods:

Drivetrain
Aluminum block 2V
Coil on Plug conversion
Steeda Underdrive Pulley's
BBK Cold Air Intake
BBK Throttle Body
Accufab Upper Plem
03/04 Cobra MAF
BBK LongTube Headers into a X pipe w/ Gesi Cats
Flowmaster Catback
3.73gears
Aluminium Driveshaft
Pro 5.0 Shifter
Centerforce Clutch
Canton Rad Tank
Lanier Metals Rad Cover
Made 283/318 on 91

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Suspension
MM K Member + Rack Bushings
MM A-Arms
MM Steering Shaft
MM Coil Over Kits Front & Rear
Koni Double Adjustable Struts & Shocks
MM Extreme Duty Rear Lower Control Arms
Steeda Billet Sway Bar Mounts
Prothane End Links
MM Bump Steer Kit
MM Caster Camber Plates
MM Rear Bump Stop Rubber
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Brakes
Front: ATS 4piston Brembo w/ EBC Reds & SS Lines
Rear: 03/04 Cobra w/ EBC Reds & SS lines
Track Pads: GLock 16/10 compound w/ Plain Brembo Rotors
ATE Brake Fluid

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Wheels & Tires
Street: 03/04 Cobra Chrome 17x9 & 17x10.5 wrapped in Mickey Thompson Super Street 275/40 & 315/35
Track: Cobra R 17x9 with Nankang AR1's 255/40/17 Squared

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Other Mods
Corbeau Racing Seats
Rear Seat Delete
Upgraded Spare Tire Set
Saleen Wing
Sparco Fixed back with removable halo seat for the track
Cobra Hood
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History

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It's an interesting story on how I got ownership of this car. My dad's friend John bought this off of a friend of his in the early 2000s. John then had the car up to 2019 where he sold it to me.
In those years, John use to take the car to open lapping days as well as Time Attack events in parking lots. My dad met John through the old mustang club and started working on the car here and there.
John invited my dad and I to one of these events and this car was actually the first car I was ever in doing time attack in. I was pretty young back then, and all I remember was this oversized helmet on my head, my head flinging back and forth as we went through the cones. It's pretty cool to now own that same car.

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In 2006/2007 John and my dad found killer deals on take out Ford Explorer motors from the states. These were the all Aluminum motors, one was brand new, the other had 2k miles on it. The 2k miles motor is in this car, the other went into my dad's 00GT.
During the motor swap, my dad did a coil on plug conversion to get rid of the ugly coil packs that are prone to screwing up. Engine bay looks way better now.
This swap happened in the late fall and the car went into storage. The plan was to get it out early in the spring and finish it up, that never happened. John lost interest and priorities in his life changed and the car sat. Being the car guy John was, he drove it at least once a year and changed the oil&filter then tucked it back into the garage.

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In November 2019, I made a deal with John to take the car off of his hands. Man, it was a long winter waiting to pick it up.
Finally spring time came around and I was able to go pick it up. Best day ever.
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DECH #2097
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Derek Hanson started DECH in 1985 looking to build parts for mustangs for the racing enthusiasts. DECH was one of the first companies to provide aftermarket components for mustangs in Canada and eventually North America. This car is #2097 of the cars built with DECH parts. This car was sold from the dealership as a DECH car. Way back in 1998 the car was sold new for $42,562.

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This car was not equipped with all the goodies DECH had to offer, but it certainly was ahead of it's time.
It came equiped with...
17x9 Cobra Wheels on BFG Comp TA Tires
Front & Rear Springs
Underdrive pulleys
K&N Filter
Borla Side Exhaust with SVO Side Skirts
Front air damn splitter (AD-1)
DECH Specific Rear Wing (AFD-IV)
Two Plaque's, one on the dash, one of a keytag
Windshield Banner with Front Fender Decals saying "DECH"
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The car to this day still has all the special DECH items, either on the car, or in boxes stored away.
The previous owners bought extra Front Air Dam Splitters as well as a extra AFD-IV Rear Wing.
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The Plan

My plan for this car was to turn it back into a track monster. I want to be able to drive this car anywhere but still be able to go to the track and turn some good laps. Want to be able to be consistent, make it reliable and fun to drive.
Let's see what I started out with...
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As said before, this car had sat for nearly 15years. It needed a lot of updating/replacing/redoing.
The car had a Procharger on it and I had to make the decision on what to do there.
I decided that a road course car would be a lot more fun NA then it would be supercharged. With the heat of a supercharger & the weight, I decided to strip it off the motor and sell it. The intercooler for the supercharger also made it so you couldn't run A/C as it was in the way of the condenser. Luckily, the previous owner kept all of the old AC bits and I was able to just buy a few hoses and O-rings and reinstall it pretty easily.
No AC = no fun.

Besides the supercharger, some major things I changed on the car was...
- Moved the battery back from the trunk to the front where it belongs
- Removed and sold all gauges from the interior (shift light, boost gauge, A/F Gauge)
- Removed and sold 5link system from rear of the car and will replace with pan-hard
- Removed and kept side exhaust system and replaced with Flowmaster
- Removed and sold Sparco fixed back seats, replaced with Corbeau
- Reinstalled A/C system, was taken out for the Procharger
- Removed Factory oil "cooler" (the pre heater)
- Replaced Oil Pan due to the other one having to be drilled for the Procharger
- Replaced aftermarket headlights for the originals
- Removed welded in driveshaft loop
- Replaced Axles due to wear
- Replaced ALL fluids
- Replaced Cobra R wheels/tires with 03/04 Wheels: Kept Cobra R wheels for storage/track wheels
- Replaced shifter boot, torn

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I can't believe how many parts I've bought for this car since I've owned it... I also can't believe how much selling online through Facebook & Kijiji I've done. I've been pretty thankful for being able to sell off as much as I have. That has allowed me to buy other parts that I needed to get the car on the road.

Mr. Clean

If you know who I am at all, you know that I'm a pretty big clean freak... especially when it comes to cars. Before I even started ripping it apart for all the upgrades/changes... I started cleaning it.
The underside of the car was not good. It wasn't undercoated, it just was dirty.
Everynight once the weather started to get decent, I was outside with a bucket of soapy water, a toothbrush and something to lay on, cleaning the underside of the car. If we didn't have a car in the shop overnight, I would sneak it onto the hoist and do the spots I couldn't reach on jack stands.
Here are some before and after photo's. My OCD is much happier :clap2::clap2::clap2:

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Some random photo's from when the suspension was installed....

K member dropped & New Oil Pan

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New MM K member

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MM A arms installed w/ steering shaft, koni DA Struts, Coil overs & Bumpsteer kit

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Hubs modded and painted waiting new big brakes.

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Caddy Brakes mounted and bled

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Rear Suspension & Brake pics

Ford Racing Rear Brake kit (Cobra)
New everything including 28spline axles
EBC Red Pads w/ SS lines
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MM Extreme Duty LCA's. All new hardware

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Koni DA Shocks w/ Coil overs
Rear Diff Fluid done.
Diff cover painted up along with Upper Control arms aswell as stock sway bar
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New Flowmaster Exhaust with new to me rims& Tires
315s!
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Dialing it in

Getting that road race track alignment.
Still need to dial it in some more with how low I want the car to be.
Shout out to ZR on the alignment and getting it absolutely perfect.
Still need to setup the bump steer... hopefully this spring.
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